Tales of Autumn
by SilverKiwii
Summary: Follow Aki Shizuka as she gets into all sorts of shenanigans while saving Eorzea. First things first, though. Who scrambled her memories?
秋の物語

Tales of Autumn

Chapter One…or Maybe the Prologue

It felt as if she was floating through space. Odd, she was fairly certain that this was not where she had been just a short time ago. As her feet came to rest on something solid, she opened her eyes. The void that greeted her definitely wasn't where she was supposed to be, wherever that was. She couldn't quite remember now. Come to think of it, what had she been doing?

She closed her eyes again and images of battle and a sky that rained fire, ash, and metal ran through her mind. Next, an older Elezen and then… white. She shook her head to clear the fleeting memories.

"Hear... Feel…" a voice echoed. The young woman searched around herself for the source when a brilliant light flared in the distance. Well, that seemed like a good place to investigate, and hopefully get some answers. She completely disregarded the fact that it was quite possibly the _only_ thing to examine in this gods forsaken empty place. Shrugging to herself she began softly humming a Goobbue Dolls song and started off towards the radiance shining on the horizon.

Started was the key word, she only made it a few steps before a dark figure appeared before her. He looked like bad news; black robes, black hood, red (oooh, variety!) mask. This guy doubtlessly radiated some serious bad juju. As she reversed her stance and lightly gripped her lance in preparation the case he decided to try something fishy, he spoke.

"Aki Shizuka, quite the thorn in many people's side," he sneered. A dark aura swirled around him as he gathered power. A red mask-like image appeared over his already masked face.

"A mask over a mask, isn't that kind of redundant?" Aki asked as light surrounded her. Intricate black and purple armor replaced the simpler gear that she had been wearing. It was strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite recall why. She really didn't think much on it though since tall, dark, and cliché decided to attack. As she prepared her counterattack, the world went white again.

～～秋の物語～～

Aki groaned as she came to again, this was starting to become a bad habit. At least she woke up in an actual location this time. _The Central Shroud by the looks of it_ , she thought as she took in the trees and greenery all around her. In fact, if her memory was correct (which she thought was questionable right now, given the somewhat important things she felt that she was forgetting) she was fairly close to the Bannock. That was good, the West Shroud wasn't far, she could make it home quickly and figure things out. With that plan in mind she set off.

～～秋の物語～～

 _No, no, no. This can't be real._ Aki surveyed the devastation before her. Her home, everything she knew… just gone. What in Halone's bloody fury could have caused the entire West Shroud to disappear? She had to find Kaien. Or maybe not right away, her brother was rather overprotective of her, and if he found out about her dodgy memory he'd be insufferable. No, first she would go to Gridania and figure out what to do from there. She could search for Kaien later. Her mind made up, Aki picked up her lance and turned back towards Gridania.

A few things to note here:

1\. 秋の物語 (Aki no Monogatari) translates into Tales/Stories of Autumn.

2\. Aki Shizuka is my character in FFXIV (so is Kaien Shizuka). Written in traditional Japanese: 静か秋 it means Quiet Autumn. A name that I picked because it sounded pretty, but also because it's sort of a joke. Aki can be quiet and serious, but more often than not she's rather silly and gets into all sorts of shenanigans. She is NOT a joke character though, she just has a certain humor... and very little patience to sit still quietly and wait (when she doesn't want to). She is no slouch in battle either, and a VERY competent Dragoon (and other jobs that will be revealed later).

3\. This is most certainly done for my entertainment. I come up with little stories while playing. Game story will mix in, but I plan on this being more about Aki than the actual game story.

I appreciate constructive criticism. Please do not just say "update soon" or "when will you update?" Updates will likely be sporadic at best. I have a very busy schedule between work, Tae Kwon Do, kids, and Japanese language study/English tutoring, so I really don't have much time to even game. I am on Coeurl server, so if you see me running around, say hi!


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